Recently, I was called to help a new client out of a jam.
Here’s the back story: You see, he and his wife purchased a home in May of 2022. They were not from Buffalo, though they have family here and they were moving for work. They turned to an online home search using one of the national sites, “he who shall not be named” (I’m sure you can guess, Z#!!&%). Like many, they clicked on a home that looked appealing to them and were connected with an agent. When you do this, you are not connected to an agent that has anything to do with the house, they are not the listing agent, and most likely, they do not know anything about the house. Through the multiple listing service they have the same access and information to the home that anyone who is a member does. My clients had no relationship with this person, they met a complete stranger and decided at this showing that they should just allow this person to represent them in a $200,000+ purchase. This happens all the time and it baffles me.
In today’s day and age, we as a society will not even buy paper plates from Amazon without reading the reviews first. We want to know, are they strong, will they hold a dinner without turning to mush, are they going to leak? Yet, a large number of people begin their home search on the internet, getting sucked in, dreaming, looking at all the pretty houses. They decide that today is the day, and click. The next thing they know, a complete stranger, one who has done nothing more than pay to be on the list as the next person in line for that click, is unlocking a door for them and “advising” them on how they should craft their offer. What qualifies this person? Did they ask? Did they check reviews? Did they sit down for a consultation and interview to make sure that this person deserves and has earned the trust to be the representative in the largest purchase 99% of you will make?
Now, don’t get me wrong, one could get lucky. One might end up with the right person. One could have ended up with a great agent like, say me or my team. Even though over 80% of our business does come from the amazing people in our world that already know, love and trust us with repeat and referrals, we do advertise as well. We do meet strangers and teach them how we earn their trust and deserve the responsibility of representing them and their best interest in their tremendous purchase.
Unfortunately, for my clients, this was not the case. They met a stranger, a functionary. A person who unlocked the door, told them what to write in their offer without any research or justification, didn’t give an opinion on the condition. Didn’t understand their circumstances and that they would not be in the home long term because of work. Didn’t know anything about them and what was important to them. And in my client’s words, “in hindsight, I do not think that they had our best interest in mind. I think they were just looking for the sale.”
Fast forward to this past May (2023): my client’s job changed and he had to move. Again, they turned to the internet for an agent, though this time they met with several agents before deciding on who to choose. In my humble opinion, they got lucky. They connected with us. In our first meeting, I came to their home prepared to learn all about them and what was important to them. I demonstrated how I would help them. In sharing my knowledge on the real estate market of the moment, we were able to look deeply into their target market and what homes were currently selling for vs what they were listed for. They learned about all of the tools and strategies we use to help our clients. I had the displeasure of having to help them understand that we had to list their home for sale price of $20,000 less than what they paid for it. I was honest and fair and they understood and agreed. They trusted that our team would deliver what we promised and we didn’t make promises that we couldn’t keep.
During the process our team advised on how they should get their home ready for sale. We discussed possible road bumps that we may need to deal with at home inspection and appraisal. We offered cleaning help, though they choose to handle cleaning on their own. We moved forward with our tried and true marketing strategy and had their home under contract in a week. The offer that they accepted was $55,000 over asking price and $35,000 over what they paid just a year ago. Some may think, we did our job, but not us, that was the easy part. Now we had to keep the deal together, through home inspection and major repair request issues. Through the town sump pump inspection and sewer issues. Through the bank appraisal and appraisal issues (including an appraisal that came back under value). Meanwhile, our clients moved to another state. We handled all of this for them. We had multiple estimates done, hired and managed the contractors, met the town inspectors for compliance inspections and the list goes on. We were hit with every road block on this deal, yet our clients didn’t feel the stress of any of it. At every step, we had the best interest of our client in the forefront. We were the fiduciary.
We study the market, research for our clients and train on the best practices of the moment. We work tirelessly to stay connected with you even when you don’t need us so that we can help answer any questions along the way. We want to make sure that you have a true fiduciary in real estate even when you are not in transition. We can help your friends and family so that they don’t fall prey to a functionary. The next time you hear someone you care about mention real estate, call us, make sure we know. If you really care about them, don’t just pass them our information…call us. This way, there is a 100% chance that they will have a true fiduciary on their side.